This is a presentation I gave on March 6, 2013 at the opening plenary of the University of Minnesota Duluth's Day of Empathy. The presentation explores the intellectual roots of the new BA program in Cultural Entrepreneurship in the College of Liberal Arts at UMD. A video recording of the presentation is available at http://okuhlke.tumblr.com/

1. Empathy, Entrepreneurship
and the Liberal Arts
Olaf Kuhlke
Associate Dean
College of Liberal Arts

2. Who am I and Why am I here?
 I am a geographer who studies mobility.
 I do research on how people express
attachment/detachment to/from place by way of
moving (i.e. walking, rituals, migration etc.)
 In my role as Associate Dean of the College of
Liberal Arts, I passionately advocate for the value
and practicality of a liberal arts education

3. Who am I and Why am I here?
 I am speaking today as an advocate of the Liberal
Arts
 I will not debate the origins, nature, evolution, and
various ethical aspects of empathy.
 I will not provide practical guides for becoming
more empathic, and show you why that’s
necessary
 I will not address the cultivation of empathy
through art, literature and other visual media

4. Who am I and Why am I here?
 I will defend the liberal arts, and show you that
they are giving students perhaps the most
valuable job skills in today’s world.
 I will argue for a new liberal arts that goes beyond
the scope of the traditional trivium (grammar,
logic, rhetoric) and quadrivium (arithmetic,
geometry, astronomy and music), the conveyance
of “critical thinking skills”, and the examination of
diversity and sustainability.

5. Who am I and Why am I here?
 I will argue for a New Liberal Arts that combines
traditional liberal arts skills with entrepreneurial
and technology training
 I will argue that empathy is a key skills in the
training of 21st
Century Liberal Arts graduates
 I will show you our response to these needs at
UMD – a B.A. program in Cultural
Entrepreneurship that combines empathic action
with entrepreneurial skills.

6. So what’s going on out
there?

7. The Liberal Arts are
under attack!!

11. The Liberal Arts are
fighting back….

12. “This is an intensely practical utilitarian age, and men virtually worship
the “money-god,” and will not cease until they are convinced that there
are nobler and purer shrines at which to worship. . . . While we
recognize in the bustling activity around us the necessity for practical
education, we do not pander to that depraved, money-born cry,
‘Nothing but the practical!’ That education which, ignoring culture,
burdens the student’s mind with tables and technical terms, simply
because these may be of use to him in his business or profession, is not
practical but injurious in the extreme. The education founded upon
comparison of what is best in Science and Literature, giving
development to mind and heart, building strong by building deep and
broad, is truly practical. The student who has learned to think, not
merely to memorize, who has secured permanent culture and wisdom,
who has absorbed and assimilated, but has not been stuffed and
gorged, is the one who will be felt, wherever he may be.”
(Hendrix College,1890-91, pp. 10-11).

17. How do we keep the
Liberal Arts relevant?

18. Suggestion 1 –
By addressing the need for
entrepreneurship training in the
emerging cultural and creative
economies

48. Suggestion 2 –
By advocating that Empathy,
Empathic Action are liberal
art skills that are key
employment skills

49. A Whole New Mind
“Not just logic, but also Empathy.
The capacity for logical thinking is
one of the things that makes us
human. But in a world of
ubiquitous information and
advanced analytical tools, logic
alone won’t do. What will
distinguish those who thrive
will be their ability to
understand what makes their
fellow woman or man tick, to
forge relationships, and to
care for others” (Pink 2005, 66).

50. Multiple Intelligences
…whether I am (or you are) writing,
researching, or managing, it is
important to avoid stereotyping or
caricaturing. I must try to understand
other persons on their own terms,
make an imaginative leap when
necessary, seek to convey my trust in
them, and try so far as possible to
make common cause with them and to
be worthy of their trust. This stance
does not mean that I ignore my own
beliefs, nor that I necessarily accept or
pardon all that I encounter. (Gardner
2009, 7)

51. Suggestion 3 –
By creating programs/majors that
combine empathic liberal arts skills with
entrepreneurship
BA in Cultural Entrepreneurship

52. What is Cultural
Entrepreneurship?
Cultural Entrepreneurs are cultural change
agents and resourceful visionaries who
organize cultural, financial, social and human
capital, to generate revenue from a cultural
activity. Their innovative solutions result in
economically sustainable cultural enterprises
that enhance livelihoods and create cultural
value and wealth for both creative producers
and consumers of cultural services and
products.

53. What is Cultural
Entrepreneurship?
Cultural entrepreneurs…solve problems by
disrupting belief systems—using television
shows like Glee to initiate viewers into the
disability or GLBTQ rights frameworks or the
Twitter campaign #mensaythingstome,
designed to expose anonymous misogyny
online.

54. Where are Cultural Entrepreneurship
Programs currently offered?
• UK
– Goldsmiths College, University of London (M.A.)
• GERMANY (B.A.)
– Uni Passau (with Universidad del Salvador, ARG) (dual degree, 2+2
program)
– Uni Duiburg-Essen
– Uni Mannheim
– Uni Giessen
– Uni Kassel
• NETHERLANDS (B.A.)
– Erasmus University
• USA (minors only)
– Wake Forrest University
– Queens College
– St. Olaf (courses only, no degree program)

55. What will the program look like?
• B.A. degree in CLA
• Classes in
– Entrepreneurship
– Foreign Languages
– New Liberal Arts Core
• Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship
– Programming
– Mentorship